Ultrasound systems exist today that utilize a variety of techniques for processing ultrasound signals to generate information of interest. For example, a variety of techniques exist today for performing beamforming upon ultrasound receive signals. One approach to beamforming performs baseband beamforming upon digitalized receive signals. Baseband digital receiver beamforming with the so-called phase rotation is a technique known in prior art. For example the document U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,116 describes, among other things, such technology.
Digital phase rotation beamforming (PRBF) identified in the technical field of diagnostic, ultrasound imaging has the advantage of allowing the phase difference between signals delayed in different manners and the carrier to be compensated. The demodulating operation provides the multiplication of the carrier by receive signals that, due to the applied delays, are not phase aligned with the carrier.
In the absence of a phase correction, images with focusing defects are obtained due to the fact that the phases of the signal contributions of the individual channels summed with each other are not coherent. One solution suggested in the prior art provides the phase difference of the carrier used in the demodulation to be compensated by performing the reverse process. In substance, the reverse process provides each complex signal contribution to be multiplied by the phase difference of the carrier with the phase of the signal of the reference channel.
However such solution requires a considerable computational burden considering that for a diagnostic image the number of reflection points along only one line and the number of receive lines is very high.
Hardware arrangements have been suggested for dividing the calculation operations between several processors and therefore to perform the calculation operations in parallel. However such solutions depend on the hardware structure of the ultrasound machine that has to be suitable for allowing it to be carried out. When the ultrasound machine has no suitable hardware structures the known arrangements cannot be provided.